Steel for sharpening cutlery



E. c. MARTIN. STEEL FOR SHARPENING CUTLERY,

APPLICATION FILED MAR-2| 1920.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

mwkw PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST C. MARTIN, OF ANT-RIIVI, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

STEEL FOR SEAR-PEN IN G CUTLEEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

Application filed March 2 1929. Serial No. 362,768.

To all whom it may concern: U

Be it known that I, ERNEST C. MARTIN, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Antrim, county of Hillsboro, tate of New Hampshire, have invented an Improvement in Steels for Sharpening Cutlery, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on. the drawing representing like parts.

' This invention relates to a steel such as is used for sharpening knives and other cutlery, and it has for its object to provide a novel steel which may be used in such a Way as to produce either a rapid sharpening action or a fine sharpening action. When a dull knife is to be sharpened, the steel will be used so as to produce the rapid sharpening action by which the knife can be brought qu1ckly to a coarse edge. has been reached, the steel will be used in such a way as to produce the fine sharpening action thereby to reduce the coarse edge to a fine sharp edge.

I accomplish the objects of my present in vention by making the steel with a knurled sharpening surface provided with relatively deep grooves extending longitudinally thereof and separated some distance from each other. The grooves are separated to such an extent that the knurled sharpening surface between any two adjacent grooves is suflicient for use in sharpening a knife in the ordinary way to produce a fine cutting edge. The edges of the grooves where they meet the knurled surface constitute sharpening edges across which a knife may be drawn, and these edges are constructed so as to give a much more rapid sharpening action than the knurled surface. Consequently, if a knife is dull, and it is desired to sharpen it quickly, it will be drawn across the sharpening edges of the grooves and the final fine edge may be produced by drawing the knife across the knurled surface in usual way.

Another object of my invention is to provide a steel which is less liable to become broken by a sharp blow, and I accomplish this by making the steel in the form of a tube rather than in the form of a solid bar. I find that a tubular steel is much less liable to become broken than a solid bar.

In order to give an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated in the drawings a selected embodiment thereof which will now be described, after which the novel fea- After this pointclaims.

Figure l is a view of a steel embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on the line 2-2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3, Fig. 1.

My improved steel comprises a body 1 which may be cylindrical or polygonal in cross-section, as desired, and which is provided with the knurled sharpening surface 2, as usual. The steel is also provided with relatively deep grooves 3 which extend longitudinally thereof and are separated for a considerable distance from each other. In the drawings, I have shown four such grooves, but the number is not essential and there may be more or less as desired. It is, however, important that these grooves should be sufficiently separated from each other to provide a knurled surface 2 of substantial width between adjacent grooves, so that a knife or other implement may be sharpened by drawing it across the knurled surface and without engaging the edge of the grooves, as shown by the dotted lines a, in F ig. 2.

The grooves 3 are cut into the body of the steel and extend considerably below the knurled surface. The edges 4 of these grooves constitute sharpening edges which have a much greater sharpening effect than the knurled surface 2, and, therefore, when a knife is drawn across any of the edges, as shown in dotted lines I), Fig. 2, a more rapid sharpening action is produced than when the knife is drawn across the knurled surface 2. Consequently, if a knife is quite dull and it is desired to quickly sharpen it, the operator will hold the knife relative to the steel so that when the knife is drawn across the steel, one of the edges 4 will act on the cutting edge of the knife, as shown by dotted lines 6, Fig. 2, and after the knife has been brought to a coarse cutting edge, the knife and the steel will be shifted so that the final sharpening operation will be done on one of the knurled sections 2 between the grooves. In this way the operator can obtain either a rapid sharpening action which Will give a coarse edge or a slower and finer sharpening action which will give a fine cutting edge.

I will preferably make my steel tubular, as shown, with the interior chamber 6 extending substantially the length of the body. One advantage of making the steel tubular is that it reduces the weight thereof. Another advantage is that it renders it less liable to become broken by a blow than if the steel were in the form of a solid bar.

WVhile I have illustrated a selected embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to the constructional features 10 shown.

knurled sharpening surface provided With grooves which extend-longitudinally thereof and are separated to provide knurled surfaces of substantial width between the grooves on which a knife may be sharpened, the edges of the grooves constituting sharpening edges which have a greater abrasive action than said knurled surfaces between the grooves.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

' ERNEST C. MARTIN. 

